It is all zeroes and ones, right? Apologies, it is a bit long explanation leading to the question.
I used to have Naim xs2 with an external power supply a few years back.
I bought Bluesound to use as a source for a DAC.
Out of curiosity I tried rpi streaming but found it got less meat on a bone and was somewhat lean in presentation.
Node was much better, especially with the added power supply.
My Chromebook sounded worse than the node but better than rpi.
I was always sceptical about cables, open-minded about power supplies etc ( my thinking was and is.. I better not spend anything on imaginary results than splash the cash)
Fast forward a few years and I have a new system. I decided to stick with the stock sound for some time just to see if there was any weakness in the current set-up. All pretty much DIY: Wolverine class AB amp, Class A preamplifier, modded old Chinese DAC. Same Chromebooks as a source as before (for now).
Because the amp and pre combo are really impressive and give me the best sound I have had so far, an order of magnitude better than my first DIY Chipamp or Naim- I can live with the quality of the sound for now, even knowing that Chromebook is a subpar source. Somewhat rolled off treble and had a bit of incoherent bass, but it was still good enough to me. Could listen to this unfatiguing sound for hours.
So, just to confirm or disprove my understanding of how things sound- I replaced Chromebook with Raspberry W2 and volumio. Same as two years ago, I did not like how it sounded. At all. Thin bottom, and harsh treble.
After that, I connected my work laptop and it was much better- music plays well across the whole spectrum.
So in theory I am happy with the sound of pc as a streamer.
Question:
So if I am happy with the sound of pc, I can use a Mac mini or Nuc and be done with it. And if comparing Mac vs streamer, say Innuos - how much better (or not better at all) is the sound of a dedicated streamer?